This Blog is created to stress the importance of Peace as an environmental directive. “I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell.” – Harry Truman
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Wednesday, March 09, 2016

9 March 2016Hafr al-Batin: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman (click here) arrived here Wednesday for the final maneuvers of Operation North Thunder, aimed at ensuring the combat-readiness of the Kingdom and its allies.King Salman was joined by leaders from the countries participating in the exercises. The countries include the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, Senegal, Sudan, Kuwait, Maldives, Morocco, Pakistan, Chad, Tunisia, Comoros, Djibouti, Oman, Qatar, Malaysia, Egypt, Mauritania and Mauritius.The maneuvers have involved 2,500 warplanes, 20,000 tanks and 350,000 troops, making it the second-largest gathering of forces in the history of the region since Desert Storm. According to analysts, the objective of the exercises is to prepare the allied forces to counter those wanting to destabilize the region.Desert Storm did not have that kind of inventory. This is much larger than Desert Storm. The scope of involvement is impressive. Wow. This is preparedness and not a war. It is very impressive.When he arrived from Riyadh, King Salman was welcomed at King Saud Air Base Airport by Eastern Province Gov. Prince Saud bin Naif, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, second deputy premier and defense minister, and Assistant Minister of Defense Mohammed Al-Ayesh, according to the Saudi Press Agency.......Among the world leaders welcomed at the airbase by the deputy crown prince included Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, accompanied by the Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistani Army Gen. Raheel Sharif, Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, and Egyptian President Abdulfattah El-Sisi.Others in attendance included Oman’s Minister in Charge of Defense Affairs Badr bin Saud bin Hareb Albusaeedi, Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, and Mauritius Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Housing and Lands Showkutally Soodhun, Comoros President Ikililou Dhoinine and Senegalese President Macky Sall.Among the others who arrived included Moroccan Premier Abdulilah bin Kiran, Maldives Minister of Defense and National Security Adam Sharif, Commander of the Malaysian Armed Forces Dhul Kalafi Mohammed Zain, and Commander of Brunei’s Armed Forces Maj. Gen. Bihain Mohammed Tawiyah....

I continue to say the Democrats have two strong candidates. I think Secretary Clinton handled the questions about emails the best I have heard from her yet. I think the Charter School issue is real and contributes to the substandard education of our public school students. I'd really like to have both of them address Charter Schools vs Public Schools.Vote!Those words are not frequently heard in reporting about the Democratic candidates. "I need your vote, please turn out to vote. It is important." You have ask. The Late Senator Kennedy always asked his voters to come to the polls. He never took them for granted. He asked and thanked. It is the country of many people and not simply the political society of the USA.

...The same is true for Bank of America, (click here) which strives to drive down its cost of funds as far as possible. One way to do so is to collect a lot of deposits. Last year, for instance, Bank of America held an average of $1.16 trillion worth of customer deposits. That was second only to Wells Fargo, which held an average of $1.19 trillion worth of deposits.

The benefit of deposits is that they're cheap. Bank of America paid only 0.12% in interest on $735 billion worth of its deposits. And it paid no interest at all on the remaining $421 billion, which consisted of demand deposits held by customers in noninterest-bearing checking accounts.

But even though Bank of America's deposit franchise is the envy of most other banks, it lags Wells Fargo's in one important respect: deposits account for 67% of Bank of America's total funding source compared to 76% for Wells Fargo. This helps explain why Wells Fargo paid less than $4 billion last year to borrow $1.6 trillion worth of funds while it cost Bank of America $10.5 billion to borrow only slightly more, or $1.7 trillion.

A second explanation for this disparity is the fact that Bank of America faces a significantly higher interest rate on its long-term debt than Wells Fargo does. Last year, Bank of America paid $6 billion to borrow $240 billion worth of long-term debt. That equates to an interest rate of 2.48%. Wells Fargo, meanwhile, paid $2.6 billion for $185 billion in long-term debt, equating to an interest rate of 1.4%....

March 8, 2016By Lucinda ShenCitigroup’s C0.19%revenue (click here) from trading equity and fixed-income is expected to fall 15% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2016, the company’s CFO John Gerspach said. Investment banking revenue is also expected to slip 25%,Bloombergfirst reported.Shares fell 3% to about $41.41 a share at 2:40 p.m.“It has been a tough quarter,” Gerspach said at an investor conference Tuesday, as reported byReuters.All the banks have to offer are excuses. They don't offer insightful leadership to AVOID THE EXCUSES!!!!!!!This is why the banks are such issues and the funding they provide to political campaigns. The banks are hungry for liquid capital. Evidently, the slowed liquidity doesn't provide enough adrenaline in a given day. What are they going to do, buy the world?March 9, 2016By Alastair March and Sridhar NatarajanCitigroup Inc. (click here) is the latest Wall Street bank to try to make money off the declining liquidity in the debt markets by selling a type of derivative increasingly used to wager on corporate bonds.The U.S. lender has expanded its offerings of so-called total-return swaps to cover investment-grade debt over the past few weeks, according to two people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak about it. In December, Citigroup started selling TRS linked to Markit Group Ltd.’s high-yield bond index.“TRS is a natural extension of the derivatives products suite we offer to our clients,” Citigroup spokeswoman Danielle Romero-Apsilos said.The derivatives appeal to investors because they’re designed to make it easier to bet on debt as trading in the credit markets has become increasingly time consuming and expensive with liquidity drying up. Dealer inventories are declining as regulations introduced to reduce risk-taking deter banks from holding the large positions needed to effectively make markets....There needs to be a "bank fitness test" again and soon. The BANKS ARE OVEREXTENDED if they are hungry for liquidity. Liquidity provides the ability to conduct daily business. If the CEOs are burning through liquidity faster than the Fed can print it, then the banks are mismanaged.

Both Democratic candidates have pledged forward movement into safer forms of energy and restoration of the natural world. Both, a change in energy sources and restoration of the natural world, is necessary to reverse this deadly trend.

March 7, 2016By John Cassidy...Some of Clinton’s wealthy backers (click here) are still big supporters of the education-reform agenda, which the Obama Administration has also pursued aggressively. (Last year, it asked Congress for a fifty-per-cent increase in funding for charters.) But as Cooper pointed out during Sunday night’s debate, Clinton has received the endorsement of two of the biggest teachers’ unions, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, which are far less enthusiastic about charters and changes to work rules. Does this mean Clinton has modified her views on schools?...The video of this interview is no longer online. Democrats don't really value Charter Schools. Charter Schools is about political status of Republicans. The political drama forces Democrats to deal with the mess created in prior administrations.Many Democrats prefer public schools because they provide equal learning and equal opportunity to bring about success for all, not just those that can qualify for Charter Schools. Charter Schools have weakened the public school systems and victimized the young people and children who have been robbed of funding in order to have a Private School Funding in the name of "Charter."January 6, 2016By dianeravitchAt a meeting in New Hampshire, Bernie Sanders said the following: (click here)“I’m not in favor of privately run charter schools. If we are going to have a strong democracy and be competitive globally, we need the best educated people in the world. I believe in public education; I went to public schools my whole life, so I think rather than give tax breaks to billionaires, I think we invest in teachers and we invest in public education. I really do.” – Bernie Sanders (Quote begins at 1:48:32)That is: go to one hour and forty-eight minutes on the video to hear his quote.Will Hillary Clinton pledge to oppose the privatization and destruction of our nation’s public schools?

US Senator Bernie Sanders has gained the respect for any office he ran for and was elected and re-elected. His willingness to serve in increasing responsibility with higher office and more responsibility including living away from his beloved Vermont while serving in Washington, DC. I don't consider a career 'politician' a real issue. There are moral and ethical elected representatives or those willing to be corrupt.

The mother did not receive information because the man that died was married. His wife was provided information regarding her late spouse. The mother could not be given any information. That would have to come from the spouse. There isn't anything else to say. Painful loss is never easily resolved, but, there is so much information that can be shared with people outside that of spouses.June 17, 2016By Karen DeYoung, Adam Goldman and Julie TateAhmed Abu Khattala (click here) had returned home Sunday night after a day of militia skirmishes in Benghazi when U.S. military commandos swarmed his residence south of the waterfront city and took him captive, quickly moving him out of Libya to a U.S. warship.“He was isolated,” a U.S. official said. “It was pretty clean.”One of the suspected ringleaders of the2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazithat killed four Americans,Abu Khattalais the first of the alleged perpetrators to be apprehended. He now awaits a transfer to the United States and a federal trial in the District.U.S. officials said the joint Special Operations and FBI mission had been planned for months and was approved by President Obama on Friday. The Pentagon said that there were no civilian or other casualties and that all involved U.S. personnel had safely left Libya....

There have been significant donors to Hillary Clinton. That has not been the case with Senator Sanders. I think Hillary Clinton is a very valuable speaker and she has a right to do so when not serving in office. I think the speeches are off limits for many reasons I have stated before. But, Senator Sanders has a legitimate bragging right about his campaign financing.

This table lists (click here) the top donors to this candidate in 1999-2016. The organizations themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organizations' PACs, their individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.If these public accountings of her donations are in error, the campaign has some work to do.

The Democratic Party leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives, in addition to 223 additional members of Congress, filed the amicus brief defending the Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals' (DACA) expanded guidelines. The lawmakers agreed Obama's November 2014 immigration executive actions were legal based on current laws passed through Congress.

In a statement released on Tuesday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said Obama's immigration executive actions are both legal and constitutional, and even former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush took action to protect children and spouses under the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986.

"Republicans' breathtaking obstruction has perpetuated an utterly broken immigration system that tears families apart, dishonors our values as Americans, and fails to meet the needs of our country," continued Pelosi and Reid's joint statement. "By and large, we are a nation of immigrants and the vast majority of families who would benefit from these programs include American citizens. We should embrace their contributions."...Evidently, the two Democratic candidates have been having a heated exchange before tonight's debate.March 9, 2016By Amy Sherman

The campaigns (click here) for Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton criticized their opponent’s record on immigration the day before the Miami debate.

Immigration has been a divisive topic in the GOP primary. As Marco Rubio and Ted Cruzhave argued about the 2013 immigration bill, Donald Trump has drawn attention for his proposal to building a wall between the United States and Mexico — and make Mexico pay for it.

But the Democrats have also argued about their own records on immigration — a particularly hot topic in Florida where 15 percent of Democratic voters and 11 percent of Republican voters are Latinos.

Here’s a look at an immigration attack line by Clinton and Sanders before the showdown at Miami Dade College....

Rubio knew the questions that were going to be asked and had answers memorized. He came across as an ideologue. There he is.Every person from the audience that asked a question was a man about the same age of Marco Rubio. Not one woman.Nothing new or insightful.

Calling it the largest outbreak (click here) of its kind and stressing the urgency of finding the source, the CDC has identified two more suspected cases of deadly blood infections and sent additional investigators to Wisconsin.

"This is very much a real outbreak," said Michael Bell, deputy director of the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Investigators have not been able to find a medical product, single facility, food source or other means of exposure that could explain how dozens of people — mostly elderly residents of central and southeastern Wisconsin — have become ill from a bacterium named Elizabethkingia anophelis.

Isolated tests from the two suspected cases had not yet been confirmed, and officials would not say whether the individuals were sickened or had died. As of Tuesday, the outbreak was tied to 44 confirmed cases, including 18 deaths.

Other strains of Elizabethkingia have caused smaller outbreaks in previous years, but most were tied to a single source...

Elizabethkingia meningoseptica is a nonfermentative, nonmotile, oxidase positive Gram-negative rods that are widely distributed in nature. In 1959, an American bacteriologist Elizabeth O. King at Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Atlanta discovered it and named it asFlavobacterium meningosepticum or CDC-IIa. Subsequently in 1994 it was renamed as Chryseobacterium menigosepticum by Van Damme et al.The organism mostly causes meningitis in premature and newborn infants and rarely causes pneumonia, endocarditis, and meningitis associated with severe underlying illness in adults. Accurate diagnosis of E. menigoseptica is important because the species is usually resistant to multiple antibiotics including extended spectrum beta-lactam agents and aminoglycosides. Here, we report a case of tubercular pleural effusion complicated with E. meningoseptica infection in a diabetic male....

Not.What rhetorical Republicans need to say, "I just can't understand how our constituency is seeing our party differently and oppositionally." Hello, that is what is happening. Get it yet?Republican are lying because they feel entitlement. When does the fantasy of Republican entitlement end?I guess that reality check is coming.Why would Jeb Bush ever endorse an opponent of his? Jeb! is expecting an open convention and that is why he is involved in Florida. Jeb! expects to be the Republican nominee. He's not going to endorse anyone but himself.It will be interesting to see Jeb! as a third party candidate.The man, Jeb!, who spent millions upon millions of campaign donations in less than six months time on creature comforts actually thinks he is electable. Amazing.

Does anyone really want to sit in that chair again?March 9, 2016APSeattle (AP) — A natural gas explosion (click here) rocked a Seattle neighborhood early Wednesday, sending nine firefighters to the hospital and reducing businesses to rubble.Crews were responding to reports of a natural gas leak when the explosion happened along the main thoroughfare of the city's Greenwood neighborhood, just north of downtown, Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman Corey Orvold said.As the neighborhood hummed to life Wednesday morning, crews were still dousing an active flame with foam. Residents were checking out the damage and the rubble and glass that littered the streets was being swept up. One cafe damaged in the blast was pouring coffee for firefighters....Thank goodness there were no deaths. That really is the bottom line for Americans. "Were there any deaths?" Americans look at devastation and see the need to rebuild, but, what they can't do is resurrect the dead.The devastation is as much a part of the burden of Americans, insurance companies and governments. While Americans are grateful their infrastructure has resulted in minimizing or eliminating deaths there is the issue of who is going to pay to repair the devastation of the petroleum industry.

Donald J. Trump (click here) easily dispatched his Republican rivals in the Michigan and Mississippi
presidential primaries Tuesday and won the Hawaii caucuses, regaining
momentum in the face of intensifying resistance to his campaign among
party leaders.

That sums up the problem, doesn't it? The establishment politics of the Republican Party has used rhetoric and manipulation to gain confidence of the electorate and the electorate has had enough of it.

Senator Bernie Sanders scored an upset win in the Michigan Democratic primary, threatening to prolong a Democratic campaign that Hillary Clinton appeared to have all but locked up last week.

Mrs.
Clinton lost badly in Michigan among independents, showed continued
weakness with working-class white Democrats, and was unable to count on
as much of an advantage with black voters as she had in the South.

Addressing
reporters in Miami while the votes in Michigan were still being
counted, Mr. Sanders said that his powerful showing indicated that “the
political revolution that we’re talking about is strong in every part of
the country.”

Bernie Sanders is a breath of fresh air to many Americans. He is an important person.

Hillary Clinton has to find a better dialogue regarding the email election problem. I think the change in law in the past four years since she served as Secretary of State. Some of this is sexism. How much of this is, ".. the best way to spread a message is, telephone, television and tell a woman?"

Hillary Clinton has to find a better message for Independents. They are important people with issues they want resolved. They aren't just a political constituency. They are real Americans that need the attention of Democratic candidates.

The Large Incident Fires Map (click here)The current fires are most noted to be where drought is still unresolved. The overall outlook is still good. I know there are folks in the US Forestry department taking a hard look at predicted weather patterns to end the large incident fires before they begin. The best environment for forests is a full canopy with moist forest floors that repel fires.This is a study that applies Canadian standards to forest floor moisture to maintain strong forests that repel fire.

Forest Floor Moisture Content and Fire Indices in Alaska. (click here)I don't lie. The concepts to reverse the climate crisis may seem insignificant, but, they are some of the best measures that can occur. Any idea that cutting down forests to prevent fires is nonsense. It only removes carbon sinks and increases the reverse climate loop that has resulted in these very issues in the first place. The best measure any homeowner has is to use slate roofs. Slate roofs were noted in intense California fires to prevent fire to homes. The embers that take place FIRST that burn down homes do not begin on slate roofs.Energy efficiency is not compromised with slate roofs. Slate is simply a good roof. It is slower to heat in the summer sun compared to metal roofs. It is an investment, but, it makes a difference. If metal roofs is what a homeowner can afford then make the change, but, indoor temperatures may be compromised. I don't believe asphalt shingles is the answer unless a home owner is not exposed to seasonal fires. I think the homes exposed to seasonal fires need special consideration when it comes to protection from fire. How many times does a homeowner have to replace their roof in the life time of their home? Do you want a roof (click here) that will provide your home with the
long-lasting protection it needs? Slate roof may be your best option!
This style of roofing will last anywhere between 80-120 years.

Slate roofing provides your home with additional safety

and protection:

Natural productResistant to moistureGreat insulationFire protectionWood shingles are not a good solution to any home's roof. Clay roofs can be considered exceptionally safe as well. The idea is to keep the embers off the roof to defeat the devastating fires in the first place.Ask questions and get good answers. The choice of a home's roof can be as personal and unique as the home itself. Homeowner's associations should be talking about this, too.

The west still has an unresolved drought. The drought in California is nothing short of profound, including evidence such as sinking land due to depletion of aquifers. It takes a lot of rain and snow to resolve that drought.

March 8, 2016By Paul Rogers

This weekend's soaking rains (click here) delivered just what drought-weary Northern
California needed: billions of gallons of water pouring into the state's
major reservoirs -- and more predicted for later this week.

With rain totals reaching 10 inches or more in some mountain
areas, 46 of the largest reservoirs in California, closely tracked by
the state Department of Water Resources, collectively added 391 billion
gallons of water between Friday and Monday morning -- enough for the
needs of 6 million people for a year.

The reservoir list, which includes such massive lakes as Shasta,
Oroville, Folsom, San Luis and New Melones, jumped in storage by 10
percent to 13.2 million acre feet, as powerful storms pouring off the
Pacific sent torrents of water surging down creeks, rivers and
hillsides....

There is some objection to allowing water to be purged from the California reservoirs for SAFETY REASONS. Just because California is BEGINNING to recover from a long lived drought, doesn't mean safety can be eliminated to allow reservoirs to fill before opening flood gates.

February 29, 2016By Lauren Sommer...Just an average-size winter storm (click here) can send huge volumes of water down the American River into Folsom Reservoir, boosting the lake by 10 percent or more. A major storm can produce dramatically more than that.“The watershed is pretty flashy and it responds pretty quickly to
storm events,” says Lessard. “That’s why we need to reserve a space
during those winter months in case that happens.”Sitting 40 percent empty allows the reservoir to act as a buffer
against floods, gulping the runoff without overflowing. In years where
the upstream reservoirs are fuller, Folsom Reservoir is required to
remain 60 percent empty....

So, here is my take.

Some of the concern of the flood gate purging by the dams is based in fear. The public needs to first scale back that fear. I know the drought caused enormous sacrifice by those in the West because of water scarcity.

There is a reason to want to fill the reservoirs before opening any flood gates. But, this is the way I see it. Currently, there are snow fields that contribute to water supplies in the usa west. Those snowfields are measurable. Getting the picture?

Let's say the SNOW MELT will cause flooding if it occurs in a rapid melt. We have seen that level of tragic snow melt in Colorado. It is nothing short of serious and lives were lost.In Colorado, the water ran down hill from the mountain tops resulting in enormous amounts of debris carried with it creating it's own dams.

One of the reasons dams and reservoirs fill up is to control flooding. The authorities should be looking to any snow melt and it's water capacity to come to the reservoirs. If there is room in the reservoirs for all the snow melt yet to come then there should be closed flood gates.

The authorities need to realize there very well may be strong storms that will also add to the reservoirs. Keeping the reservoirs at a 'topped off' level results in a level of danger. The public needs to ask their authorities to be able to react quickly to any potential flooding that may become dangerous.

There has to be a 'happy medium' between 'drought preparedness' and flooding. If a dam is at it's highest level what happens next is flooding and it could happen quickly BOTH downstream and upstream because of BACK WATER RISING.

Back water is what contributes to the reservoir to fill it. Back water are rivers and tributaries, even the smallest streams. When the reservoir is completely filled it will increase back water levels. There can be flooding in back water natural waters while the reservoirs may remain the same. The authorities that monitor the reservoirs also look at back waters and the communities there. This is a complicated dynamic and the authorities assisted by scientists/hydrologists need to provide for everyone's safety.

The climate crisis has created it's own specialists to understand all the pieces to the puzzle. Among the most dedicated scientists to resolve the climate crisis is Chris Fields. I think he is still a California resident and teaching at Stanford. It would be a good idea to ask for his permanent consultation into the future.

Some of the problems in resolving the climate crisis are funding cuts, many coming from Washington, DC. That funding is important because it saves lives. While citizens of the USA have a difficult time with their personal solvency, the reality of the climate crisis is compromising their personal lives even further.What comes first in government spending? How are college and university costs balanced with the immediate threats? I think Americans can put their best interests first to demand the best advice from people who can supply it.

Get rid of the fear and take the initiative to have at least one solid adviser to help with water supplies to citizens. Besides the amount of water, there is also water quality that has to be maintained. We can have our daily lives delivered back to us if we demand our needs for safe and abundant water is a priority.